Yemen receives 5000 Somali refugees from Jan. 2009

SANA'A, March 14 (Saba) - Yemen has received about 5000 Somali
refugees, including 1000 women, during the daily risky exoduses from
Somalia to Yemen since the beginning of 2009, the GPC-run
al-motamer.net reported Saturday.

Official reports assured that coastlines of Hadramout, Shabwa and
Taiz governorates received in January 2009 around 1,567 Somali
refugees, including 315 women and 27 children. The number increased
in February to 2,599 refugees, among of them are 821 women and 259
children.

During the first week of March 2009, Yemen's coasts received 744
Somali refugees, including 133 women and 30 children.

The refugees are sent by the concerned authorities to a camp for
refugees in Kharaz district of Lahj governorate and the temporary
camp in Maifa'ah district of Shabwa governorate, under the
supervision of a representative of UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR).

It is worth to mention that about 60-70 Somali refugees died in the
sea last February in their way to Yemen. The ratio of drown Somali
refugees amounts to 10-15 percent of those reach Yemen. Most those
are women and children.

Streaming the Somalis to the country caused a heavy burden on the
basic services of health, education and work fields, particularly in
the absence of the direct support to cover needs of the growing
numbers of Somalis in Yemen.

During the recent months, UNHCR launched an international urgent
call for supporting Yemeni government to supply the best services
for those refugees.

Continually, Yemen has called in several occasions the international
community to assist the Somali government through finding permanent
solutions for the conditions in Somalia.

Yemen hosted approximately 800.000 Somali refugees, Interior
Minister Mutahar al-Masri has said in previous statements.